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I'm still struck by how relatively young the Orioles are, especially since they've had a couple of years in contention now and several players (Jones, Wieters, even Markakis, who just turned 30) who are non-ancient but have been in Baltimore for quite a while. Foregoing the chance to load up on older players for a playoff push – in fact, shedding some of their oldest guys – seems smart. OTOH they aren't going out and getting any good players, either. They could certainly slip back to the 65-69 win ranks, even this year. But I'd hardly dress them down for not spending tens of millions on some senior pitcher.

But I'd hardly dress them down for not spending tens of millions on some senior pitcher.

I'd dress them down for basically doing nothing. For a fan, it seems like it would hard to look at the number of guys in their peaks on that roster and not be disappointed with the effort put in to this offseason. Bundy and Gausman might be good, but they haven't done much yet, and who knows what they'll produce in 2014. Where are these trades that are supposed to build the franchise? When is the Orioles year supposed to be?

I don't know if this is Duquette or what, but this offseason (and last offseason) has seen a team on the cusp of contention just sitting on their hands and doing nothing to get fans excited.

It seems pretty obvious that it isn't Duquette's fault, but that ownership refuses to raise payroll. The Pirates appear to be in the same situation. Both teams have spent the winter reputedly interested in various free agents but never particularly close to actually spending any money.

I'd be more critical of the fact they weren't in on Maholm at that price. Not that Maholm is any great shakes, but he adds nice depth. Arroyo was an overpay. They should probably be in on Santana if the price is right.

In the interview linked here the other day Duquette said that Angelos absolutely does NOT limit his spending. On the contrary if it's a big ticket item he's deliberative because he's a lawyer, but can be persuaded. I love to hate Angelos but this makes him out to be almost reasonable. Maybe the Duke isn't such an idiot for passing on Arroyo?

If you take into account revenue sharing the Orioles spend less than 40% of revenue on payroll, which is well below the 47% MLB avg. And its revenues are understated due to their ownership of MASN whose revenue/profits are not included, so its actually worse than this.

On the contrary if it's a big ticket item he's deliberative because he's a lawyer, but can be persuaded.

According to rumor he's so deliberate that people can't reach him for days at a time in the middle of negotiations. IIRC David Cone had exactly this issue when he was dealing with the O's and I'm pretty sure he's pulled disappearing acts other times as well.

Losing Arroyo is no big deal. I think he'd get killed in the AL East and for that money they could do better. But Maholm only cost 1.5-that's the sort of bargain they should be aiming at and that Duquette specializes in.

Go get Santana, or Ubaldo or trade for Price. Overpaying for Arroyo is the kind of meh thing that mediocre teams do (sorry Diamondbacks). Maybe if they signed Maholm and Arroyo then hope one of the young guys takes a big step forward but Arroyo alone ain't doing it.

It's about showing you're "serious" and you show you're "serious" by signing "proven veterans" that fans may have heard of or at least sportswriters can spin into "significant" acquisitions.

That such a signing might be lousy return for $25 M is just nit-picking. :-)

Maholm should have a chat with his agent. Vargas 4/$32, Hughes 3/$24, Feldman 3/$30. Even Hammel 1/$6, Volquez 1/$5, Hernandez 1/$4.5, Chen 1/$4.25, Floyd 1/$4. Even Felipe Paulino pulled down a 1/$2 contract. And some owners should be having chats with their GMs as to why they don't have Maholm under contract for 2/$13 (and it probably wouldn't have taken even that much).

plus minor contracts for Reed Johnson, H Rodriquez, Slowey, Valdespin and Wigginton. C'mon, who gives a guaranteed contract to Casey McGehee at this point? Wigginton, Dobbs and McGehee on one team would be kinda fun though.

At that price, sure. None of those Marlins signings are "bad" per se other than probably McGehee (and Salty doesn't really belong, he's there for completeness). Ignoring Salty, that's about $14 M for those 7 players so they only have to amass 2-3 WAR among them to pay off. It's just weird to sign 7 guys all of whom probably project to under 1 WAR each. Just how much veteran filler does any one team need?

On Baker -- he has his uses and I appreciated his tenure with the Cubs. But he's still only good for 200 PA a year and WAR has him as barely above replacement in 1600 PA. He's starting to see more starts at 1B/LF/RF than 2B/3B -- 38 starts vs 6 last year; 43 starts vs 5 in 2012. (I'm surprised by that.) So I suspect he's near his sell-by date. But it's less than $2 M per year so who cares? And, yeah, he still hits lefties.

I'm sure my clubhouse presence alone is worth .1-.2 WAR so I can't wait for the Marlins to sign me. I'm even willing to discount to $.9 M.

Just running through Cotts 40% of teams have cut payroll this year. What happened to all the TV money?. The Yankees and Mariners have accounted for 1/2 of the free agent money spent.

Wasn't this kind of a stinkey FA market? Cano and Tanaka and not much else?

I thought the Baker signing was great. He's the perfect guy to have on your bench - he can mash lefties and play lots of different positions. My guess is lots of teams will want to trade for him at the deadline.

Walt do you think Jeff Baker was a good signing? I was hoping the A's could have gotten him and dumped Colaspo's contract on somebody.

I'm not Walt, but I think Baker is a really good lefty killer type with a lot of positional versatility. The way he was used by the Rangers seems to fit with the general impression of his infield defense at 2B/3B, but he's decent enough at those 2 spots to play there a few times per month if you need an occasional fill-in. He's not the guy to start every day at one of those spots if your starter is on the shelf, but as a platoon guy at 1B or a corner OF spot who can occasionally play 3B or 2B he's a really good use of a bench spot on today's pitching heavy rosters. He seems like an odd signing by the Marlins though; they're not exactly the kind of team to be picking up free agent priced role players. They'd be better off spending that kind of money on a reclamation project who has upside to be an everyday guy or something. But for a team like the Rays or Dodgers or another team that expects to contend I think he'd make a lot of sense at that price. Perhaps the Marlins are planning on platooning him and Jones for a cheap .850+ OPS first baseman. If platooned aggressively those two could basically be as productive as a guy like Mike Napoli. Plus they always have the option of selling him at the deadline for some kind of longshot prospect.

I thought the O's should have resigned Feldman. None of the others seemed worth the money / draft picks they are requiring. Arroyo would have been eaten alive in the AL East. VERY happy the O's didn't go there!

I think the last big salary pitcher the O's acquired was Kevin Millstone, I mean, Millwood. He provided a lot of nothing for $12 mil ($3 mil paid by Rangers).Peter Schmuck and others raved about his work ethic, disposition, role modelling and, of course, veteran leadership for the younger pitchers. On the other hand, he was 4-16 that year and led the league in losses. I would rather see what the younger pitchers on the roster can do.

Pleasantly surprised that there can be a discussion of the Orioles without too many "Heat up the tar . I've got the feathers. Now where is that SOB, Angelos?" diversions. Would be nice if the Tampa people would stay in their own thread.

I think the last big salary pitcher the O's acquired was Kevin Millstone, I mean, Millwood. He provided a lot of nothing for $12 mil ($3 mil paid by Rangers).Peter Schmuck and others raved about his work ethic, disposition, role modelling and, of course, veteran leadership for the younger pitchers. On the other hand, he was 4-16 that year and led the league in losses. I would rather see what the younger pitchers on the roster can do.

Of course, part of the reason he went 4-16 is that the Orioles gave him basically no run support that year, and another part is that their defense stabbed him right in the kidney (.317 BABIP).

Overpaying for Arroyo is the kind of meh thing that mediocre teams do (sorry Diamondbacks).

So true. I couldn't understand why there were so many articles about Arroyo being a "premium" free agent and all the teams chasing him. He is durable, I'll give him that - he's averaged over 210 innings/season for the last 9 years. On the other hand, he's done it at a 104 ERA+ performance level, which is nothing to get that excited about.

Maybe the definition of "premium" has changed. Or maybe it's just been a slow news week.

I think (Jeff) Baker is a really good lefty killer type with a lot of positional versatility. The way he was used by the Rangers seems to fit with the general impression of his infield defense at 2B/3B, but he's decent enough at those 2 spots to play there a few times per month if you need an occasional fill-in. He's not the guy to start every day at one of those spots if your starter is on the shelf, but as a platoon guy at 1B or a corner OF spot who can occasionally play 3B or 2B he's a really good use of a bench spot on today's pitching heavy rosters. He seems like an odd signing by the Marlins though; they're not exactly the kind of team to be picking up free agent priced role players. They'd be better off spending that kind of money on a reclamation project who has upside to be an everyday guy or something. But for a team like the Rays or Dodgers or another team that expects to contend I think he'd make a lot of sense at that price. Perhaps the Marlins are planning on platooning him and Jones for a cheap .850+ OPS first baseman. If platooned aggressively those two could basically be as productive as a guy like Mike Napoli. Plus they always have the option of selling him at the deadline for some kind of longshot prospect.

He would have been ideal for the Nats -- not only that, but he's a local guy too (Gar-Field HS, Woodbridge, Va.); I'm guessing that seeking a two-year contract was the deal-breaker with Rizzo. Still, if the Fish are out of it by July 31, he might be able to get Baker and give up no more than a middling prospect.